WASHINGTON, Feb 27, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – US President Joe Biden will attend
his second “virtual” summit with a foreign leader early next week when he
meets his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
“On Monday, March 1, President Joe Biden will meet with President Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a
statement Friday.
She added that the “virtual event” would touch on cooperation on migration,
joint development efforts in Southern Mexico and Central America, Covid-19
recovery and economic cooperation.
The Mexican president’s office for its part said the two leaders “will talk
about the shared vision and objectives,” including “cooperation mechanisms to
address the structural causes of migration in northern Central America and
southern Mexico.”
Migration has become a central issue in the relationship between Mexico and
the United States, which share a 1,990-mile (3,200-kilometer) border.
Under Biden’s predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, Mexico agreed – under
the threat of tariffs being imposed – to keep thousands of people who applied
for asylum in the United States on its own territory while their cases were
processed.
Biden’s first virtual meeting with another leader took place on Tuesday
when he spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Biden reaffirmed the close US ties with Canada, which had been strained
under Trump, while Trudeau called the friendship between the neighbors
“extraordinary.”